South Africa’s theatre of hate
In recent months one of South Africa’s cycles of xenophobic rage has exploded with fatal consequences. Two Nigerians were reportedly killed by security personnel in Port Elizabeth. On Monday, gunmen
In recent months one of South Africa’s cycles of xenophobic rage has exploded with fatal consequences. Two Nigerians were reportedly killed by security personnel in Port Elizabeth. On Monday, gunmen strolled into a McDonald’s outlet in the Johannesburg CBD and casually shot three Ethiopians dead.
Aside Nigerians, Ghanaians, Somalis and other foreign nationals have been targeted in the increasingly hostile environment, with violence and protests reported in major cities like Durban, Cape Town and East London.
Foreigners, especially those from African countries, have become easy targets in the face of rising frustrations over high unemployment, and economic inequality. Accusations that migrants are taking jobs and denying locals of social amenities, and engaging in criminal activity like drug dealing are common.
But while anti-immigrant sentiment isn’t strange in today’s world, the increasing embrace of xenophobia by citizens of the country once celebrated as the ‘Rainbow Nation’ for its tolerance, is damaging its image not only on the continent but across the world. If the rabble burning shops and looting property don’t understand the wider implications of their actions, surely the authorities do.
For a nation with economic and diplomatic ambitions that require the cooperation and embrace of other nations, South African leaders need to look beyond local political considerations and rein in the misguided, murderous elements waging war against foreigners in their midst.
Almost seven years ago, I outlined my views on this matter at a time of similar attacks in this column titled ‘South Africa’s theatre of hate’. Those arguments remain relevant today.
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‘South Africa’s theatre of hate’
You would have expected that the rain of condemnation which trailed the recent wave of anti-foreigner violence in South Africa would have left the average citizen of that nation drenched and remorseful.
In Nigeria, Zambia and a few other places, there were reprisals that never attended past xenophobic attacks against nationals of other countries.
But it doesn’t appear to have been noticed in certain parts of Johannesburg where, early this week, protesters again took to the streets demanding that all foreigners leave their country.
It never ceases to amaze me how South Africans, who depended on a global movement comprising organisations and countries from different continents to break the yoke of apartheid, suddenly realised that their problems would disappear the day there is no foreigner in their midst.
Back in the 70s and 80s their freedom fighters went cap in hand soliciting funds from the same Nigerians they now disdain. Many were exiled to the so-called Frontline States of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique – from whose territories African National Congress (ANC) militants launched guerrilla attacks.
These nations often paid a bloody price because the racist regime then in power in Pretoria would regularly invade to carry out reprisal sorties against targets, using its military might to humiliate the not-so-powerful African countries.
In less than 30 years, a nation that depended so much on others has succumbed to collective amnesia. The ‘Rainbow Nation’ founded on love and forgiveness is gradually being transformed into a theatre of hate.
Right from my earliest contacts with South Africans I was struck by how insular they were. Perhaps it comes from being located at the rear end of the continent – surrounded only by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
Back in 2004, I had gone on a work-related trip to Johannesburg. A family friend then invited me on quick visit to Pretoria. I remember him introducing me as his ‘brother’ to a neighbour in the apartment complex where he lived.
The South African greeted me fairly cordially, but quickly asked when I was returning to Nigeria. He added that it was clear my friend who had been in the country for about two years had no intention of returning home! I assured him my departure was only a matter of days. His satisfaction was evident.
Just as it is wrong to depict all Nigerians living in that country as drug pushers because of the shenanigans of a few, it would be grossly unfair to write off the entire population as anti-foreigner.
One day, on that same trip, a colleague who didn’t have the outlook of many of his compatriots, tried to illustrate for me the complex way some of his people relate with the rest of the continent. She said someone going to a destination like Lagos or Accra, would say something like “I’m travelling to Africa” – as though their country wasn’t part of the same continent.
Even if you purge South Africa of all foreigners, it remains a very violent nation. There are places in Johannesburg where you can be killed over a cell phone. Carjackings are commonplace. Rape and femicide have reached such dire levels that women took to the streets in protest last week and had to be addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Unfortunately, past governments have often responded to xenophobic episodes in a very timid way that encouraged criminal elements to think they can kill and maim foreigners and get away scot free. Sadly, these past orgies of violence haven’t created more jobs or made the society more egalitarian.
Despite the black empowerment programmes of successive administrations, the gulf in economic power between whites and blacks has only widened – and it is not down to malevolent activities of Nigerians, Ethiopians or Tanzanians living in that country.
With a sense of perspective South Africans would realise that our 30,000 citizens in a sea of their own 50,000,000 people is minuscule. And not all our folks are drug traffickers. Many are professionals, academics, sportsmen and legitimate business people.
Unfortunately, the woolly thinking that quickly ascribes all that is wrong with their country to the excesses of outsiders is not limited to the frustrated poor living in cramped city hostels and slums.
Senior government officials have thrown up their hands in helplessness, or tried to rationalise the attacks on grounds that some foreigners have engaged in criminal activity.
Defence Minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, in an interview with eNCA, a local television channel, described her country as an angry nation and insisted that the government couldn’t have prevented the violence.
“The reality is that we have an angry nation. What’s happening can never be prevented by any government,” she said.
“People are saying it is xenophobic attacks but it is not the first time, we have had them in the past.
“We have criminals that have read the situation and are aware that we have challenges right now.
Before her, Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, Minister of International Relations, had said: “I would appreciate them in helping us as well to address the belief our people have and the reality that there are many persons from Nigeria dealing in drugs in our country.”
These are very damning statements coming from officials operating at the highest levels. They are self-indicting because a government that admits it is incapable of thwarting a barely-concealed conspiracy is acknowledging its incompetence.
Perhaps, the violence is a diversion that allows people to vent their anger on soft targets and not focus on politicians who, in almost 30 years, have failed to deliver on the promise of a better future which the arrival of black majority rule held out.
As the victim foreigners contemplate the charred remains of their businesses and properties, they are not the only ones damaged. The South Africa government has invested a fortune trying to promote the country as an excellent tourist destination. But who wants to travel to a place – even if it were heaven on earth – where foreigners are made so unwelcome?
Even more disappointing is the fact that the mindless violence greatly diminishes the citizens and leaders of a country that produced such a great specimen of humanity as Nelson Mandela.
• This article was originally published on September 11, 2019.
